Posts tagged ‘reality tv’

Ladies and gentlemen, I have been staring at my blank screen trying to figure out what to say about this episode. I laughed, I cried, I threw a little hissy fit at the end. It was an emotional rollercoaster. Damn you Next Iron Chef for doing this to me.
To get logistics out of the way…this episodes theme was transformations. The main challenge was to take canned items and make them something yummy. Some of the cans were mystery cans with questions marks on them so there was a fun little easy twist in this competition. I always find it so funny how much chefs retch at canned food. One day I want Alton Brown to just school them in the history of canned foods and while it may not be the most tasty of healthy for you, it certainly changed the world we live in. Chef Falkner ended up winning but that doesn’t really matter (well it does but come on….). The bottom two going into the showdown are Spike and Marcel. I was shocked! Not my boys! As Chef Alex put it, this is not a showdown but it is a brodown. I’ve commented in my past reactions that I love the bromance that is going on between Marcel and Spike and I am not ready to let that go. Not in the least! Do you hear me Chairman?!

It seemed like the gods were shining down on Spike and Marcel and they got a great secret ingredient. Lobster was revealed which makes all of this so bitter sweet. Neither Marcel nor Spike want to knock the other out. There is a rock and a hard place and they are right in the middle. Spike goes about making a soup while Marcel starts making some poached lobster with mango and some hibiscus and black bean sauce. There were tons of bro moments where they were supporting eachother and saying how good they both looked and stuff but then things took a turn for the interesting.

Marcel asked if Spike wanted to plate on the same plate. In a move of solidarity and if they go down they go down together. Spike agrees and this sets all the other chefs in a tizzy. They are saying how this is going to get them both eliminated and how they are making a mockery of iron chef etc etc. Correct me if I am wrong but last I checked this was still just a bastardized American version of a Japanese competition show right? When did this become the end all be all people? If anything I think it shows good on their character as friends. No man left behind and all that good stuff. The other chefs are taking this WAY too seriously. Please feel free to contest this with me either via the comments, twitter (@notmakefriends) or our email (podcastATnotmakefriends.com).

Goofiness ensues as Marcel and Spike really ham it up in front of the judges. They make ninja poses as the sliding doors open to reveal them and crack a few jokes. This is why I love these guys. Life isn’t meant to be so serious and when you are forced to go up against your best friend in the competition there needs to be a little bit of lightheartedness. The judges did not really see it the same way I did. They saw it as cocky and a bit juvenile but I saw it as fun and good natured. What were they supposed to do? Try to punch eachother or something? The boys really only faultered once. They judges asked if they were meant to be judged together. Is this a real all for one and one for all situation? They waffled a little bit and that was the end of that. I wish they just would have said yes and stood by their decision. If they did, the two chefs one plate concept would have worked much better. I must admit though I cannot take credit for coming up with “two chefs one plate”. That is the brainchild of Spike and Marcel. How can you not love these two?!

Marcel edged out Spike only on creativity of his dish. They both put out great food. I was really hoping there would be a decision to save both of them but evidently I don’t take this show as seriously as others. I just love seeing the bros bump fists and hypothetically slap butts and have a good laugh. Hopefully Marcel can pull off a win and Spike can sometimes guest star on his podium in kitchen stadium. That would be awesome.
What are your thoughts?

Wow! Just wow! I really liked this episode. This is what I have been waiting for in this show.

In episode 3 here we start out with the chefs taking some awesome pictures at the LA Farmer’s Market. While this seemed out of place a little, I loved it because it was fun and since I’m Not Here To Make Friends is based in LA it is awesome to see our city looking amazing. The pictures all turned out lovely and were meant to showcase the chefs personalities. My favorite was Greenspan’s picture with all the cheese. I wish I could find it for you to put it here but just watch the episode.
The pictures were great but here comes the twist….are you ready for it? The chefs get paired into teams of two and they need to make a simple (did I mention the theme today was simplicity? No? Well the theme was simplicity) one bite dish showcasing the personality of their opponent! Crazy!

I will warn you now dear reader that this reaction will be short. The second episode in on TNIC:R (yes that is how I abbreviate it now) was nothing short of boring. If you are looking to keep me hooked Food Network, you are failing.

This episode revolved around innovation. The chefs were divided into three groups. Group Taco, Group Falafel, and Group Banh Mi. Their task was to innovate these foods that we all know and love into something the judges could love even more. The twist here isn’t in the challenge itself since it is pretty straight forward. The twist is that 3 people will be going into the final showdown challenge this week (the bottom chef from each group). Each group would have a winner and then an overall winner would also be announced who would get the advantage in the chairman’s challenge in the next episode.

The winners were Chef Alex, Chef Mehta, and Greenspan. I was surprised on these winners. Alex just made some crazy dish with squash blossoms that didn’t even seem to resemble a taco at all, Mehta just wrapped some falafel in rice paper to make rolls, and Greenspan just took a Bahn Mi and made it a salad. None of these dishes seemed to be amazing to me but I suppose they were the best of the bunch.

Cooking for their lives were Chef Falkner, Chef Freitag, and Chef Duskie (I just like saying her name is Duskie…it kind of sounds like a stripper name). The secret ingredient was white bread. White bread! I always like to lean over to Bryan and tell him what I would make if I was on this show. I told him I would make my mother’s hot tuna on toast. I am sure I would have been eliminated but hey it would have been tasty and true to who I am. Going home was Chef Duskie (damn I am going to miss saying your name girl). I think her dish probably would have tasted the best but it just didn’t use bread as the main feature in the dish. Not like Falkner who made some kind of crazy french toast. I am sorry to say but I think that is a bit of a cop out but who knows….I wasn’t there eating it.

This entire episode was just boring and had challenges that have been overplayed. The most annoying part is that they started the episode at the Nickle Diner in LA. This is a great diner that makes a killer bacon maple donut but it really had nothing to do with the episode. It was more or less just a room that they stood in to choose teams. I didn’t feel like most of the cooking was as good as it could have been and there was far less humor or suspense than I would have wanted. The only suspense was when all three chefs were fighting for their lives because they were all in the same space and running into eachother a little bit and all using the same kitchen space. That does not make a good show. I found myself playing words with friends a lot during this episode and just not being able to really engage with it.

Atleast Spike is still in it though and who knows…..maybe next week will be better. Maybe their main story editor called in sick or something. Right? Chairman? Alton? Right?!

I am not sure how many of you troll yahoo.com as much as I do but in the past year they have really put out some amazing original content. One of our most viewed and commented on posts is from a few years ago announcing the cancellation of the FX show 30 Days by Morgan Spurlock. Since the cancellation, Morgan has been busy at work making his documentary movies like The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. How many of you knew that he was still working on short format content as well?

Recently, I saw a few episode of The Failure Club and fell in love with it the same way I did with 30 Days. The episodes are about 8-10 minutes long (perfect for a quick workplace viewing) and follow 7 people who have let fear hold them back from what they really wanted to accomplish in life. Did they want to be a clown, a designer, a caterer, a writer? With cameras following them and recording their every move and emotion, they attempt to change their lives by not letting fear hold them back and reaching for their dreams. The show is incredibly optimistic and heartbreaking at the same time.

It is pretty safe to say that everyone, at some point or another, has been held back by fear (this writer included) and it is refreshing to see people taking a chance on their passion and watching those first steps of an idea and seeing it come to life. You watch it and root for them to succeed and cringe with every downfall. Just like 30 Days, you get hooked on the people and the human aspect of the series which is a running theme in all of Spurlock’s work.

If you have the time or want a little inspiration to get you out of your cubicle and into your dream situation, I highly suggest that you give this series on yahoo a try. I give it the I’m Not Here To Make Friends stamp of approval. New episodes are uploaded every Monday and Friday and you can see all episodes at http://screen.yahoo.com/lifestyle/failure-club/.

There has been talk of how the internet will play a role in the next generation of reality television. Some think it will expand the genre while others believe it will kill it by watering down the content. Not many have even tried to go down the road of an internet reality show before but the newest contender holds a special place in our hearts. Epic Build is a new YouTube series, inspired by reality competitions, where players try to get the most viewer votes by building things in the popular computer game Minecraft. In each episode, there will be various challenges and contestants will be eliminated until only one player remains.

Not only does this new series include our love of video games but also our love of reality television. It is right up our alley. The first episode premieres on January 16th with new episodes being posted every two weeks. There will be 12 episodes total and all can be found here so subscribe to that youtube channel for up to date episode notifications.

Check it out, let us know what you think, and vote vote vote. This could be the future of reality television before our eyes. So many great reality shows never see the light of day and Epic Build is fortunate enough to have a youtube audience. We are sure it will be worth your bandwidth. Also, keep your eyes here at notmakefriends.com for more Epic Build information as the show progresses.

Back on task and ready to deliver the goods, Allison and Bryan don’t slack and mumble around on this episode! They cover the finale of the Amazing Race and two episodes of Top Chef and it only takes them just shy of an hour! If they seem a bit distracted at time, that’s because something was making a noise in the office (the sound doesn’t pick up on the mic, thankfully) and they try to figure out where it is coming from. That mystery is never solved, but the mystery as to where they’ve been the last few weeks is solved… or over… whatever makes more sense.

In this episode, Allison and Bryan make up for lost time by discussing 2 episodes each of the Amazing Race and Top Chef. They’re sorry for the wait, but they were just flat out too fat on turkey last week to be of any use to anyone.